A month before the Centre rolled it out, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik announced the launch of Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana on almost the same lines as the central scheme.

The Congress government in Chhattisgarh has decided to withdraw from the Centre’s flagship universal healthcare scheme, which was rolled out from the state’s Jangla Development Hub in Bijapur district.

The newly formed government is planning to devise its own universal healthcare scheme to replace Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) or Ayushman Bharat, which was started on September 15 last year, state health minister TS Singh Deo told ET. “We have decided to withdraw from the scheme,” said Singh Deo. “We don’t understand why we need to operate insurance packages when we have the entire system of medicine purchase, ASHA worker network and primary healthcare centres in place. We have the manpower and are capable of providing universal healthcare.”

Asked whether the move was politically motivated, he said: “We are not withdrawing because it is a BJP scheme. Ayushman Bharat is similar to the UPA’s Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana. We are simply implementing our manifesto promise — universal healthcare scheme. Congress had even promised ‘right to health’ in its 2014 parliamentary poll manifesto.”

The move comes after a series of representations from associations including government doctors, hospital owners and even beneficiaries. The state government is now planning to introduce an alternative scheme which covers the poorest of poor, outpatients’ care and expenditure on medicines. “About 90-95% of the patients are covered under primary and secondary healthcare, which can be provided through the government set-up,” said Singh Deo. “Right now, under Ayushman Bharat, they need to be admitted to tap into the benefits. Many private hospitals are not covered under the scheme so the patients are left out. What Chhattisgarh needs is universal healthcare system.” This is the first central programme which the newly installed state government has spurned. Dr Rakesh Gupta, president, Hospital Board Raipur said: “A new alternative scheme needs to be devised in Chhattisgarh as the central scheme does not address the basic problems of primary healthcare. It is targeted at secondary and tertiary care. Almost 85-90% of the patients have waterborne diseases, malnutrition, malaria, typhoid — these are not what Ayushman Bharat addresses.”

Even before PMJAY was introduced, Chhattisgarh had insurance cover in the health sector. The erstwhile Congress-led UPA had introduced Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana for those below poverty line. The Raman Singh-led BJP government later tweaked the central scheme to introduce Mukhyamantri Swasthya Bima Yojana to include those above poverty line. However, problems plagued the scheme over the past two years as small nursing homes sprung up in remote centres and the number of patients in government hospitals declined.

Chhattisgarh is the fifth state to say no to PMJAY. A month before the Centre rolled it out, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik announced the launch of Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana on almost the same lines as the central scheme. Telangana has consistently parried the Centre’s attempts to initiate the scheme. West Bengal government withdrew from the scheme last week when CM Mamata Banerjee took an exception to PM Modi’s photographs on letters sent to beneficiaries. The West Bengal government said that with a 60:40 share in the expenditure on scheme, it should get space on letters sent to beneficiaries. The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government in Delhi has also given the cold shoulder to the scheme.

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